"Flatscreen," by Adam Wilson

Jeff Glor talks to Adam Wilson about, "Flatscreen," "a coming-of-age story about a young man trying to become a new person in a world where nothing is new."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Adam Wilson: A childhood in suburbia. A prolonged late adolescence. An obsession with television. Loneliness. Those kinds of things.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

AW: My own stamina. I was amazed that I didn't give up on myself.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

AW: Probably reading a lot and wishing I were a writer. And eating a lot of pasta.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

AW: Mark Leyner's back catalogue. He's a mad comic genius that more people should read. His book "My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist" is one of the great books of the 90s. He has a new one coming out--his first in 15 years--that I'm really excited about.

JG: What's next for you?

AW: I'm at work on a new novel. It's set in New York in the fall of 2008, and centers around the Wall St. crash, and a woman's epistolary relationship with a death row inmate in Texas. The basketball player Dirk Nowitzki makes a cameo as the narrator of one chapter. It's weird, and definitely different for me. I'm excited.

For more on "Flatscreen," visit the Harper Collins website.